Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers

Gardens are the perfect setting for a murder, as they have deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites. Marta McDowell, a writer and gardener, explores how the mystery genre has been underappreciated for its use of gardens and horticulture. She introduces plant-obsessed detectives and spooky groundskeeper suspects, toxic teas served in foul play, and real and imagined gardens that have been the settings for fiction's ghastliest misdeeds. McDowell also introduces us to some of today's top writers who consider gardening integral to their craft.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 07 September 2023
Publisher: Workman Publishing

Gardens, with their deadly plants, razor-sharp shears, shady corners, and ready-made burial sites, have long been a perfect setting for the perfect murder. However, the outsize influence that gardens and gardening have had on the mystery genre has been underappreciated. In her book, Gardening Can Be Murder, Marta McDowell, a writer and gardener with near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre, illuminates the many ways in which our greatest mystery writers, from Edgar Allen Poe to authors on today's bestseller lists, have found inspiration in the sinister side of gardens.

From the cozy to the hardboiled, the literary to the pulp, and the classic to the contemporary, Gardening Can Be Murder explores the mystery genre's many surprising horticultural connections. Meet plant-obsessed detectives and spooky groundskeeper suspects, witness toxic teas served in foul play, and tour the gardens—both real and imagined—that have been the settings for fiction's ghastliest misdeeds.

A New York Times bestselling author herself, McDowell also introduces us to some of today's top writers who consider gardening integral to their craft, assuring that horticultural themes will remain a staple of the genre for countless twisting plots to come.

This book is dangerous. A veritable cornucopia of crime fiction and gardening lore, it faces the reader with multiple temptations—books to seek out, plants to obtain, garden tours to book. As Vicki Lane, author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries, puts it, "This book is dangerous. A veritable cornucopia of crime fiction and gardening lore, it faces the reader with multiple temptations—books to seek out, plants to obtain, garden tours to book."

Weight: 448g
Dimension: 173 x 210 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781643261126